The Somali Piracy Epiphenomenon about to End. VIII – Towards a Happy End for the MV FAINA Hostages

The Ecoterra 129th Press Release Update offers an insightful on the great progress made during the MV FAINA negotiations; I therefore publish it integrally.

129th Update 2009-02-04 22h01:12 UTC

Ecoterra Intl. - Stay Calm & Solve it Peaceful & Fast !

Ecoterra International – Update & Media Release on the stand-off concerning the Ukrainian weapons-ship hi-jacked by Somali pirates and related news.

We also can make sea-piracy in Somalia an issue of the past - with empathy and strength and through coastal and marine development as well as protection!

New EA Seafarers Assistance Programme Emergency Helpline: +254-738-497979
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EA Illegal Fishing and Dumping Hot line: +254-714-747090 (confidentiality guaranteed)

Day 133 - 3176 long hours into the MV FAINA Crisis - Update Summary

Efforts for a peaceful release continued, but the over four months long stand-off concerning the Ukrainian weapons-ship MV FAINA is not yet finally solved. Contacts and direct negotiations had been arranged and commenced after the Israeli owner first refused to negotiate. The talks had been concluded and the ransom has been delivered today, but the vessel is not free yet and the FAINA saga always has been full of surprises.

A ransom has been delivered to Somali captors who seized a Ukrainian ship carrying battle tanks, heavy weapons and 20 crew members, a spokesman for the ship's owners said Wednesday. Mikhail Voitenko did not say how much was paid, but Russia's ITAR-Tass news agency put it at $3.2 million. The pirates at first had demanded $20 million. Reuters also reports the Somali pirates holding the Ukrainian ship MV FAINA with 33 tanks on board have taken a $3.2-million ransom on Wednesday and will release it within hours, a local man helping negotiate the deal said. "The pirates are still on the ship dividing the money", the man, who asked not to be named, told Reuters from the Somali port of Haradheere. "The ship will be released in coming hours". The captors of MV FAINA are busy counting and sharing a substantial payment which was made today, local sources report and hope is rising that the vessel could be left by her captors tomorrow, Thursday. Information that MV FAINA is scheduled to arrive from Saturday in Mombassa could not be confirmed.

In order not to scare the pirates of MV FAINA the Russian media conveniently reported that Russia's Admiral Vinogradov destroyer is busy elsewhere and escorting three other vessels through the waters off the Horn of Africa. Navy Capt. 1st Rank Igor Dygalo said on Wednesday: "The Russian destroyer is presently escorting the Ukrainian Boris Babochkin, the Russian Cherkassy and the Grenadines-flagged Ocean Starling", which makes the destroyer busy and not available for being around FAINA.

It remains to be seen if the ro-ro vessel with a gross tonnage of 10,931 can be fuelled up and get herself run off the Somali coast or if she will have to be towed, once the last of her captors will have left and a safety inspection has taken place. Her registration with the Russian Maritime Registry of Shipping has been suspended and a survey is overdue. So far call sign V3EZ2 is not yet on the air and the vessel is not yet free to sail.

Andrew Mwangura, the fearless seafarers'-rights defender, attended Mombassa law courts early this morning for a hearing of his case [see earlier reporting], whereby one witness testified and his evidence was recorded by Mwangura's Attorney. The matter has been fixed for mentioning on 4th March, 2009 and a hearing on 1st April, 2009. Strangely but expectedly the witness gave evidence which could not hold any water, for when asked by the defence lawyer to table the warrant for Mr. Mwangura's arrest, he could not do so. He was also unable to table any copy of any alarming statement Mr. Mwangura allegedly had made and could also not provide any evidence about the possession of four marijuana joints of which Mr. Mwangura was accused of being in possession. Mr. Mwangura meanwhile had recorded a statement with the Kenya National Human Rights Commissioner (KNHRC - Nairobi office) on the 10th December last year and was promised that his case would be brought to the attention of the Attorney General to provide protection. Strangely since then the KNHRC seems to have not been active. Mr. Mwangura was arrested by police officers from the Criminal Investigation Department Mombasa upon allegations of "making alarming statements to foreign media touching on the security of the country".

He was arrested outside the Kenya Television Network (KTN) studio in Mombasa at around 21h00 local time on 01. Oct. 2008 and detained for five days at the police cells at Central Police Station Mombassa and for two nights at the infamous Shimo La Tewa maximum security prison. He was brought before Mombassa law courts on 2nd October 2008 and charged for making alarming statements and being in possession of four marijuana joints. Mr. Mwangura has categorically denied as well as objected to any such allegations. He attended court on 7th October 2008 for the mentioning of his case whereby his counsel made an application on constitutional reference concerning free speech. He also attended court on 13th October 2008 whereby his application for constitutional reference was dismissed. Following he attended court on 30th October 2008 for hearing of his case whereby the same was adjourned at the instance of the prosecution. He then attended court on 11th December 2008 for hearing of his case whereupon again the case was adjourned to 4th February 2009 at the instance of the prosecution (the prosecution witnesses were absent).

As per the laws of the Republic of Kenya he could be held for up to 24h without charge but he was detained for a total of 9 days contrary to the laws of Kenya. Mr. Mwangura in addition has constantly received phone-calls from Kenyan and Somali officials trying to muzzle him in his efforts to secure the lives and well-being of seafarers taken hostage in Somalia. Prior to his arrest he had been requested by family members of the Ukrainian seafarers on board MV FAINA to do everything he possibly can do to secure their safe release and he had made respective pleas on the 7 o'clock TV news in Kenya on the fateful day of his arrest. Mr. Mwangura also caters firmly for the interests of Kenyan seafarers and has been instrumental in the unharmed release of many seafarers and their vessels from Somalia. His untiring efforts to assist members of ship crews from all over the world and their families have been acknowledged and recognized worldwide. Mr. Mwangura and several international organizations believe strongly that his arrest without having done anything unlawful and without any proven charges was an affront by various players, who tried to further cover up on the unfolding saga of the Ukrainian arms shipment, which was intercepted by Somali Pirates and whose crew from three nations could have faced a bitter end in case the still pending stand-off is not resolved peacefully.

There is no limit to what a person can do or how far one can go to help - if one doesn't mind who gets the credit !

The Somali as well as the Ukrainian/Russian/Israeli sides must come to terms now and set the innocent seafarers free with first priority ! And in order to avoid the destruction of the vessel and its cargo by anybody as well as to avert the subsequent humanitarian, health and environmental horror-scenario, such can only be achieved together with the release of the ship, where also the body of deceased Capt. Vladimir Kolobkov is still kept.

If the stand-off can not be resolved within the next days Ecoterra Intl. still demands immediate humanitarian assistance to be allowed, facilitated and dispatched to the vessel and the body of deceased Capt. Vladimir Kolobkov to be transferred with respect to his family in Russia as fast as possible. Ecoterra Intl. also calls for human rights protection to be provided for all crew members, their families in Russia, the Ukraine and Latvia as well as for all well-meaning people assisting in solving the case, many of whom have been subjected already to serious threats, acts of intimidation and persecution.

Ecoterra Intl. repeats its call to solve the FAINA case now with absolute top priority and peaceful in order to avert a human and environmental disasters at the Somali coast. Humanitarian assistance must be allowed by the captors and facilitated by the owners. Anybody encouraging hot-headed and concerning such difficult situations inexperienced and untrained gunmen or those, who believe they would be capable to try an attempt of a military solution, must be held fully responsible for the surely resulting disaster. The saga and secrecy surrounding MV FAINA must not - like in the MS ESTONIA case, which is the worst naval disaster in Europe since WW II - become the shroud for its 20 seafarers. "The environment and its natural resources are all too often forgotten as the long-term casualty of war. Environmental security must no longer be viewed as a luxury but needs to be seen as a fundamental part of a long-lasting peace policy". - UNEP

The FAINA is one of at least 49 ships that pirates seized last year off the Horn of Africa during a surge in piracy driven in part by Somalia's growing poverty and instability. The multimillion dollar ransoms are believed by many to be one of the only ways to "make money" in the impoverished nation. But while the many cases of sea-jacked merchant vessels on innocent passage (sailing even outside the EEZ e.g. in the Indian Ocean) constitutes clear piracy, Somali actions against illegal fishing or against any transport of illegitimate or clandestine goods has a legal standing. Ecoterra advocates to end all destructive, detrimental, criminal and illegal activities in Somali waters.

Raising public awareness through legitimate criticism of government actions is a fundamental part of human rights work. We know the Ukrainian authorities don’t welcome facts or information about allegations, but governments trying to prevent torture or other internationally outlawed human rights violations or crimes should encourage reporting of complaints, but not retaliate against human rights defenders. Article 25 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights guarantees the right to take part in the conduct of public affairs. The UN Human Rights Committee has stated that, "Citizens also take part in the conduct of public affairs by exerting influence through public debate". States also have obligations specifically relating to protecting and ensuring the right of human rights defenders to do their work. The United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders states that everyone has the right to promote the protection and realization of human rights and that individuals or groups have the right to articulate criticism and make proposals for improving the work of government bodies, among other rights. Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights and article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights guarantee free speech. Government officials are expected to be more receptive to criticism than private citizens, especially when it concerns the carrying out of their official duties.

Clearing-house:

News from other abducted or newly attacked ships --------

Games Crazy People Play: Kidnapping, Pirating, and War & Naval War-games to protect Fish-piracy and to cover the real agenda

Somali pirates who recently hijacked a German gas tanker have demanded 6 Million dollars to free the ship and its crew, sources said on Monday.

MT STOLT STRENGTH close to be released. Preparations are underway to enter the final phase for the release of the 23 crew together with their Philippines-flagged chemical tanker loaded with phosphoric acid.

Likewise it seems that with the renewed intervention of the Nigerian Government the tragic saga of the tug YENEGOA OCEAN with its 10 Nigerian crew, who had been more or less abandoned by their Nigerian owner for over five months, will come to a close soon.

After a stand-off between the pirates on the tug Masindra 7 and a Malaysian warship could be resolved peacefully, the owner of the vessel as well as the governments of Malaysia and Indonesia still have not come to terms with tangible release negotiations. The all-Indonesian crew of the Malaysian tug-boat is running out of food again and now also of fuel, because its attached Indonesian owned barge pulls it every night towards the seashore and the captain has to struggle in the morning to bring the vessel back to her place of anchorage.

The Indian vessel confusion is partly solved. The reportedly "missing" Indian vessel is actually called MV Jaikur I (one!) and not II (two). Comores-flagged MV Jaikur II is operating under World Food Programme out of Mombassa, where it is at present, and reportedly just had been returning from Mogadishu presumably under naval escort. However, Panama-flagged MV JAIKUR I is held in Mogadishu harbour since already October 2008, though her AIS system still shows her last record to be Dubai on 18th of October 2008. But she is held in Mogadishu and Al Rashid Shipping Dubai responded and reported that this is due to a business dispute between the owner of the vessel and a Somali business man who is the owner of the cargo, which apparently got damaged before delivery. The registered ship owner, however, is GEL TRADEWIND NAVIGATION INC, UAE and the manager of the 12,454 gross tonnage vessel is GULF ENERGY LTD, UAE. The crew consists of 14 Indians, 3 Pakistani, 2 Somali, 1 Filipino and 1 Iraqi (the captain). The vessel's chief engineer - another Iraqi - could escape and reported that the situation is not good concerning the food and living conditions for the crew. Based on his escape the other crew members were now confined to the vessel under hostage-like conditions. Marine observers, who have reported an Indian vessel being held in Dhanaane (North-Eastern Somalia) continue to try to establish its proper name and the composition of the crew.

European Union navies arrested 36 pirates in January. Yet France's Vice-Admiral Gerard Valin said even more vessels and better coordination are needed to deal with the ongoing threat near the Horn of Africa. Pirates are disciplined and professional, Valin said, and they show no signs of giving up. "They are operating with more and more skill", France's top military official for the Indian Ocean told AFP in an interview published Wednesday, Feb. 4. "They are paramilitary, they are very professional", Valin said from his joint command ship, the FS Var, which docked in the Saudi port of Damman while he met Saudi officials. The EU launched a joint anti-piracy operation Atalanta in mid-December of last year. The extra military presence seems to have helped slow pirate activity in the region, but mainly the adverse weather played the significant role, local observers reported. Pirates have attempted 17 hijackings this year and succeeded three times. The most recent hijacking was the seizure, which had 13 crew aboard. The January 29 attack happened despite the ship sailing with some type of an escort.

Just two days before the hijacking of a German gas tanker MV LONGCHAMP nine pirates were arrested by France when an armed helicopter raced to the rescue of a cargo ship which radioed that it was under threat. The helicopter aimed its weapons at the pirates before they could board the ship. Valin's troops showed up a short time later to arrest the gang, bringing the total number to 36 pirates arrested in January alone. Officials believe there are four or five big pirate operations being run out of Somalia. There are believed to be hundreds, if not thousands, of men working as pirates. AFP also reports that the French navy has figured out how to spot a pirate in the troubled waters: "The way you spot a Somali pirate in a sea of fisherman in the Gulf of Aden", says a top French regional naval commander, "is not the AK-47s on his skiff -- it’s the long aluminum ladder on deck". "A fisherman with ladders is not a fisherman", said Vice-Admiral Gerard Valin, the tall, lanky joint commander of the French Indian Ocean military region. Valin, 55, plays a key role in the EU Atalanta operation — there are some 20 naval vessels from more than a dozen countries including India, China and Russia patrolling the region — against the pirate gangs who seized 49 ships, including an oil-laden Saudi supertanker, around the Horn of Africa last year, extracting millions of dollars in ransoms for crews and cargoes. "They have a perfect mastery of the operation, with initiative and attack".

With the latest captures and releases now still at least 14 foreign vessels with a total of 243 crew members accounted for (of which 56 are Filipinos) are held in Somali waters and are monitored on our actual case-list, while several other cases of ships, which were observed off the coast of Somalia and have been reported or had reportedly disappeared without trace or information, are still being followed. Over 134 incidences (including attempted attacks, averted attacks and successful sea-jackings) have been recorded for 2008 with 49 fully documented, factual sea-jacking cases (for Somalia, incl. the presently held) and the mistaken sinking of one vessel by a naval force. For 2009 the account stands at 17 averted or abandoned attacks and 6 sea-jackings on the Somali/Yemeni pirate side as well as one wrongful attack by friendly fire on the side of the naval forces. Mystery pirate mother-vessels Athena/Arena and Burum Ocean as well as not fully documented cases of absconded vessels are not listed in the sea-jack count until clarification. Several other vessels with unclear fate (also not in the actual count), who were reported missing over the last ten years in this area, are still kept on our watch-list, though in some cases it is presumed that they sunk due to bad weather or being unfit to sail. In the last four years, 22 missing ships have been traced back with different names, flags and superstructures.

Directly related news ------

Ecoterra Intl. strongly protested today and spoke out with horror over the senseless killing of a famous Somali journalist. Said Tahlil Ahmed was not only a friend and partner but also - as a member of the Tumaal - a voice for the often voiceless Somali minority groups, who seem to be targeted now again by brainless and cruel assassins. Said Tahlil, head of an independent Somali media company has been shot and killed in Mogadishu, witnesses and colleagues have confirmed. Being the director of a top Somali media network 'Horn Afrik' radio station, Said Tahlil Ahmed was shot on Wednesday by masked gunmen in the Somali capital while walking in the Bakara market area. Journalists at the scene say Ahmed was one of several media representatives who had been called to a meeting with leaders of the insurgent group al-Shabab. "Two masked men armed with pistols turned into an alley and shot our friend Said dead", a local reporter, who witnessed the shooting, told Reuters. A journalist stated to AP that he was with Horn Afrik Director Said Tahlil and six other journalists when the gunmen stopped them, took them to a corner and shot Tahlil in the chest. The journalist was speaking on condition of anonymity because of fear of reprisals. The journalist says the remaining journalists ran away and could hear the gunmen shouting, "kill them" but says no other journalist was killed or wounded.

Another one of the reporters told VOA Somali service that gunmen suddenly opened fire on Ahmed, killing him on the spot. "They shot him several times in the heart and he died on the spot. We ran away for our lives as they kept shooting", he said adding that al-Shabab had been angered by Horn Afrik's extensive coverage of the new Somali government, led by moderate Islamist leader Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed. Al-Shabab rejects the peace deal that led to the government's formation, and has promised to continue pushing for an Islamic state. Horn Afrik, a VOA affiliate, runs two radio stations and a television station. Like other media outlets in Somalia, the network has been attacked and shut down at various times by insurgents or government officials. The network's chairman was killed by a roadside bomb in Mogadishu in 2007. Said Tahlil Ahmed is the ninth journalist killed in Mogadishu since 2007, Ali Yasin Gedi, the vice-chairman of a local rights group, said. Reporters are frequently abducted by armed men in Somalia where there has not been an effective central government since 1991. A journalist working for another independent radio station was killed in Afgoye, a town near the Somali capital, on January 1. Canadian journalist Amanda Lindhout, 27, and Australian photojournalist Nigel Brenan, 35, have still not been freed, though their abductors are said to have reduced the ransom significantly. Observers wonder what the negotiation team is doing, since the two journalists have now been held for nearly five months since 23rd August 2008.

An Indian Kilo class submarine spooked Chinese warships that were sent to patrol pirate infested waters in the Gulf of Aden and the two navies engaged in an hour long game of 'hide and seek' in international waters last month, Chinese media reports have said. In the first such incident involving Indian and Chinese warships that has come to light, media reports from China said that its warships 'forced' the Indian submarine to surface after over an hour of maneuvers during which anti submarine choppers were scrambled from the Chinese destroyers. While officers in the Indian Navy have acknowledged that track was being kept of the Chinese warships that transited from the Malacca Straits to Somalia waters, they denied that the India sub was forced to surface during the 'encounter'. "It is a routine procedure. We do keep track of warships transiting near Indian waters through all means possible. However, the reports of the Indian submarine having surfaced are incorrect", a senior Navy Officer said. Chinese media reports said that the incident took place on January 15 in the waters near the Bab Al-Mandab Strait that separates Yemen and Djibouti.

They said that the Chinese warships picked up the Indian submarine on sonar and after 'rounds of maneuvering during which both sides tried to test for weaknesses in the other's sonar system' the Indian submarine was forced to surface. The Chinese reports said that the submarine tried to escape by diving into deeper waters but anti submarine choppers were sent to trail the Indian vessel that forced it to surface. China had for the first time sent two destroyers to Somalia last month to patrol the waters, its first deployment to far away waters. India already has a warship in the area and has been patrolling the region for more than three months. However, the Indian Navy has denied that any of its submarines surfaced in the Gulf of Aden. A senior officer said that the Chinese ships were being tracked through various means throughout their transit near Indian waters but submarines were in the area at the time that the reports suggest. India then on Wednesday rubbished reports that China's warships on anti-piracy mission in the Gulf of Aden caught an Indian Navy submarine snooping on it in the international waters. Vehemently denying that two Chinese Destroyers had "forced" an Indian submarine to surface, Navy officials in New Delhi said the vessel "was not Indian" at all. "None of our submarines surfaced in the Gulf of Aden region as reported in a section of the Chinese media", a Navy official said.

Chinese newspapers and websites had reported a couple of days ago that their warships sent to fight piracy in waters off Somalia were stalked by an Indian attack submarine and the two sides became locked in a tense stand-off for at least half-an-hour. They also claimed that after rounds of maneuvering during which both sides tried to test for weaknesses in other's sonar system, the two Chinese warships managed to force the Indian submarine to surface. Indian Navy, however, said there was no such face-off with the Chinese Navy vessels. "This seems to be a psychological warfare indulged in by the Chinese Navy", an official said. Asked if the Navy had any submarine currently deployed in the region, officials said they were operating submarines in a range of theatres and that deployment patterns could not be discussed. Those who remember what we wrote in update No. 92 about the submarine-infested waters off Somalia, will very well understand the games, which are going on below the surface. With a mistaken sinking of a pirated fishing vessel from Thailand, a shoot-out with pirates who sea-jacked a gas-tanker, whereby the tanker was hit, and now with the submarine-saga, India is denying a bit too often and too much in the opinion of local analysts.

End of the Ecoterra 129th Press Release Update